Terry Malts release brief but enjoyable EP, Insides

San Francisco trio Terry Malts is back with Insides, an EP out September 23 via Slumberland Records. Evoking feelings of youth, Insides is music to the montage of your younger self running around town, having fun, and being reckless with your friends.

Terry Malts is Phil Benson on bass, Corey Cunningham on guitar, and Nathan Sweatt on drums; Benson and Cunningham take turns alternating between main and backup vocals on the EP.

Each of Insides‘ songsare sonically similar enough that the EP has a cohesive sound — fuzzy and distorted yet melodic — but it is varied enough to keep the EP from being monotonous. For example, “Hidden Bay,” the last song on the EP, is a surprising deviation from the fast guitars and lively mood of previous tracks; the bass riffs are darker, the harmonies are more dissonant, and the overall atmosphere of the track is heavier than that of the others.

Insides EP maintains a youthful spirit, partly due to lyrical yearning, simply and earnestly, feelings which are familiar to anyone who’s had a high school crush; in “Let You In,” the opening track, the band sings, “I haven’t felt this way since, oh, I don’t know when” and “I don’t want this to end / So I opened up instead / And let you in.” The straight-forward delivery of these lines coupled with the unadorned but energetic playing of the instruments works well to demonstrate the sincerity of these statements.

Sounding like The Vaccines at times, echoing The Ramones at others, and ever so slightly reminiscent of Joy Division every now and then, Insides is as enjoyable as it is brief, and in it, Terry Malts show us that terseness can translate to quality.